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P L A T E CCCCXVIII.
G E N T I A N A CATESB^L
Cateshys Gentian.
C L A S S V. ORDER IL
ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.
COROLLA monopetala. Capsula bivalvis, unilocularis
; receptacnlis duobus longitudinalibus.
BLOSSOM one-pehilled. Capsule two-valved,
one-celled; witli two longitudinal receptacles.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER, &C.
GENTIANAJ foliis remotis oppositis ternatisque,
corollis verticillatis ventricosis decemlidis,
laciniis alternis inaequaliter bifidis
lacerisque ; calycibus minute cillatis.
GENTIAN, with remote opposite and ternate
leaves, whorled ten-cleft bellied flowers,
•with their alternate segments unequally
bifid and torn; and minutely ciliated
empalements.
GENTIANA {Catesl^i), corollis campanulatis ventricosis extus Coeruleis, foliis lanceolatis remotis Walt. Fl. Carolin. IO9.
GKKTIANA {Saponaria), corollis quinquefidis campanulatis ventricosis verticillatis, foliis ovato-hinceo-
Jatis tnnervils. IFilld. Sp. PL 1. 1338.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. The empalement.
2 . The blossom spread open.
3 . The pointal.
THE beautiful species of Gentiana here represented, does not appear to be noticed either in Willdenow's
edu.on of Species Plantarum, or the Hortus Kewensis of Mr. Aiton; exccpt by the former of these
authors, as bemg synonymous with G. Saponaria 3 from which as a species we conceive it distinctneither
do we find it enumerated in Mr . Bonn' s Hortus Cantabrigiensis : bat it is described by Walter
m his Flora Caroliniana under the name of Catesba^i; and is k n own in several of the principal gardens
,n the neighbourhood of London by that appellation ; which we have therefore thought it more eligible
to adopt, than run any risk of occasioning confusion by applying a new one.
The plant is perennial and herbaceous, a native of Carolina, and is propagated by parting its roots
m autumn or early spring; but requires a moist sheltered situation, and peat earth in the open air
to make it flourish.
I t rises with several stems to the height of a foot or upwards : the leaves are opposite, or in threes
remote, lanceolate, stem-clasping, and obscurely three-nerved, witii scabrous margins, occasioned bv
minute, upwardly-directed serrulations, which at the base of the leaf are decurrent and form four
or six roughened lines on the stem : the flowers are irregularly whoried ; but the uppermost whorl is
by much the largest, each blossom is of a rich deep purple colour, ventricose, and opens very little
at the mouth, where it is divided into ten incurving segments, every other of which is of a much „-iler
colour than the rest, broader, unequally bifid, and minutely lacerated: the empalement is five-deft
and Its segments are hnear-lance-shaped, with minutely ciliated edges, after the manner of the ed..el
of the leaves. °
' ' ' ' ' commu n i c a t e d to us by tlie
Hon. Mr. Irby, of I'arnham Koyal, Bucks. ^
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